Sarcoma UK is delighted to announce funding for three new research projects, all focussed on improving diagnosis for sarcoma patients.
Early sarcoma diagnosis is vital to ensure that patients have the best chance of survival. For sarcoma, which has such limited treatment options, getting the right diagnosis early means there are likely to be more options available.
That’s why Sarcoma UK is funding research to help make this happen, ranging from developing a test to help diagnose gynaecological sarcomas, to bringing people together to make diagnosis more efficient.
The projects
One project, led by Professor Maria Kyrgiou at Imperial College London, will develop a piece of technology to help spot gynaecological sarcomas.
This uses the smoke produced through some surgical techniques, which can help tell the difference between normal tissue and the sarcoma. The team hopes the technology will help people with gynaecological sarcoma be diagnosed faster and earlier, and therefore improve survival rates.
The technology should also help surgeons ensure they get all the sarcoma out the first time, meaning patients shouldn’t have to have multiple operations.
Secondly, a test which analyses all the genes in both sarcoma and the patient, called whole genome sequencing, can help ensure patients get the right sarcoma subtype diagnosis.
Unfortunately, there are a number of challenges facing the genomic testing service – including a lack of scientists with the right expertise to analyse the data. This means that a lot of potentially important data is being wasted. and patients aren’t seeing the benefits of this type of testing.
This project, funded by Sarcoma UK, will create a network of scientists to upskill the sarcoma community, share knowledge and improve efficiency.
‘The generous Sarcoma UK funding facilitates pooling of knowledge, skills and effort across the NHS Genomic Service. We hope that this combined initiative increases awareness of sarcoma and will accelerate delivery of benefits for patients with sarcoma,” says Professor Flanagan.
Finally, Sarcoma UK is delighted to be commissioning a piece of research to help understand how people get referred into the specialist sarcoma services from their GP. Specialist sarcoma centres have long been under intense pressure. This has not only meant that people are waiting a long time to get test results and receive their diagnosis, but is also causing anxiety for many patients.
The team at University Hospital Sussex, led by Dr Nadia Mahmood and Mr John Bush, will be analysing records over the last 5 years to spot any trends in how each patient’s referral might have related to their outcomes. They will also be exploring sources of dissatisfaction and failures of communication.
The team hope that the results from this project can be used to reduce delays in diagnosis and improve the overall experience for patients
‘We are pleased to have started our retrospective analysis of the diagnostic sarcoma service at University Hospital Sussex. We are confident the results will positively impact the early diagnostic pathway for sarcoma patients,’ say Nadia and John.
Action for people affected by sarcoma
To date, Sarcoma UK has invested over £5.6 million into our research programme, helping us improve our understanding of sarcoma and find new and better treatments.
Dr Sorrel Bickley, Director of Research, Policy and Support at Sarcoma UK, said:
At Sarcoma UK, we hear too many stories of patients’ sarcoma diagnoses being missed, often leaving them with limited treatment options. From speaking to people affected by sarcoma, we know that research to improve diagnosis is a huge priority, second only to finding new and better treatments. We are delighted to be funding these three projects and hope they represent another step forward in ensuring that everyone with sarcoma can get the treatment and care they need.
We’ve been able to commit over £300,000 to these new projects, and want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated or supported Sarcoma UK – you’re the ones making this research possible.
Learn more
You can read more about the science behind these projects and all the research projects we’re funding here.
Donate today so we can continue to fund world-class sarcoma research and help more people receive the care and treatments they need.
